SEO Basics - Simple SEO Tips

Here are a few tips and simple rules you should follow to improve easily your rankings in the different search engines. Nothing new and nothing very complex but good tips that works.

So, I hope you enjoy reading this little "SEO Beginner Guide" and I hope it helps you grow your traffic.

Search Engines Optimization

What is SEO?
SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It's a set of techniques and strategies to optimize websites for the search engines and get beter rankings on the search results of those engines.

There are a few more abreviations and terms you should now if you start learning SEO, among others:

SERPs: Search Engine Results Pages.

Anchor text: Text used as a link.

Backlink: Any link pointing to your web site. Also called Inbound link.

One-way link: When a site or page has a link to your site, and your doesn't have any link back to it.

Keywords density: Relation of a keyword to the other words in a web page element. For example, the web page title < title >This is just an example for a web page title< / title > has a keyword density of 20% because 7 out of 35 characters in this title make the word "example".

Outbound link: Any link on your page pointing to another site.

So, let's start working on it right away!

Tip 1 - Anchor text
When you create a link to another page or another site of yours, don't just use "click here" or "go" as the anchor text. Basically, don't do this:

To join our online HTML training, < href="001.html">click here< /a>.

Instead, use the keywords related to that page:

Join now our < href="online-html-training.html">online HTML training.

Try also to use these keywords in the name of the HTML file.
Search engines algorithms are taking into consideration the text used for the link itself. (anchor text)
"click here" is meaningless. But "online HTML training" correspond exactly to your subject, and this specific page, even independantly of its content, will be considered as an interresting page for "online HTML training" by the search engines.

Tip 2 - Backlinks
Spend time to contact other webmasters who have a site about the same subject as yours and exchange text links.
Again, use the keywords that you target in the anchor text of those links. Don't always use the same keywords but sometimes, use synonims and variations.
Only consider a link exchange with sites treating the same subject. Try to get at least 40 backlinks on 40 different websites.

Tip 3 - Pages title
Give a different title to each page, use keywords related to the page.

Tip 4 - Content
Search engines (through their spiders) are indexing text content from your pages. So the first thing you have to do, is make sure you have plenty of text, related to the subject of your web site. The context of the words is also very important, so don't just list hundreds of keywords. Write correct sentences, repeating several times the words you want to focus on. Try to use all the synonyms you know. Eventually, don't correct your typos or mistakes, people will do the same typos when they do a research!

Plus:
Always set the value of the alt="" tag of your images.

< src="html-training.jpg" alt="HTML Training">

Set the description and keywords metas. If possible, write different metas for each page.

< name="description" content="...">
< name="keywords" content="...">


Tip 5 - Content Actualization
You have nice content? Plenty of backlinks and optimized pages? Great, but don't start sleeping on it.
Update your content as often as possible. Add pages, articles, news... Grow your site.

Tip 6 - Web Hosting
Make sure your site loads fast and your hosting is good. A slow web site is no good.

Tip 7 - Clean HTML code
Try to have your HTML code as clean as possible. And try to reduce it a maximum. You should have a lot of text content and a bit of HTML code, not the contrary.

Tip 8 - Directories
Do not forget to post your web site to all the Internet directories related to your subject. These links are better than links exchanges as usually, directories do not require a link back to their site. These one-way links have a very good value for search engines.
Also submit it to DMOZ directory. It will probably take a few months to get your sited indexed, but the backlinks you will get there are worth gold.

Tip 9 - HTML tags H1, H2, B, U...
Use the headers tags for your titles and subtitles, search engine will give more importance to those texts.

<>HTML Training< /h1>

The look of these tags is not so nice but you can use CSS to redefine it.

h1 { color: #000000; font-family: Verdana; font-size: 14px }


Tip 10 - Domain name
The keywords used in the domain name have great importance for some search engines, such as Google. If possible, register a domain name with your target keywords.

A domain name like http://www.buy-flowers.com has good chances to get ranked well on "buy flowers" with a bit of SEO and appropriate content.

You can also try subdomains for your most important sections. Subdomains will usually get indexed much faster than the sub-pages and directories.
Taking our example, you could create http://roses.buy-flowers.com, http://tulips.buy-flowers.com, ... generating a kind of "mini-site" for each.

Tip 11 - Inbound/Outbound links
Make sure you have more inbound links than outbound links on your pages. If you have too much outbound links, search engines will devaluate the importance of your page, considering it's just making a gateway to other sites, without having a good value for the surfer.

Tip 12 - Experiment!
Try new things. Play with the keywords density, your site structure, HTML tags and elements.
Some techniques work good with Google, not for Yahoo or MSN and vice-versa. And moreover, the search engines algorithms are changing all the time! Some old strategy might not work anymore but suddenly work great for one of them.

Well, that's it for today! I think that covers most of the SEO Basics you need to know to start optimize your site.

Thanks to exoclick.com
By
Benja

Ebay Top Ten Ways to Bring you holiday traffic!

We want you to ring in this holiday season with more sales and higher profits. So we're making big investments to bring shoppers your way, with hard cash reasons to buy on eBay. Massive coupon campaigns are hitting millions of eBay buyers, wherever they're searching--watch for our "pull-out-all-the-stops" Cyber Monday blitz. Up to 30% cashback deals reward buyers who get to your listings through a search on Microsoft Live. Irresistible "Daily Deals" on hot holiday items and a special holiday deals hub will keep shoppers coming back. Find out how you can cash in on all these great holiday programs.

(1) Get more exposure and a free subtitle

Offer your buyers free shipping

to help generate new sales. How? Until December 31, items listed with free shipping get a free subtitle. Plus, free shipping gives you a boost in search results. Most of all, buyers love it. And now, when buyers leave Feedback, they get a reminder you offered free shipping--a not-so-subtle hint that you deserve a perfect 5 for shipping cost.

(2) Buyer and Seller Protection

Just in time for the holidays: PayPal Buyer Protection now covers buyers' purchase price and original shipping costs with no coverage limit. See eligibility. PayPal Seller Protection for all US PayPal accounts is also improved. You're now better protected against claims, chargebacks and reversals for unauthorized payments, and items not received. Every eligible claim is covered at no additional cost. Coverage is extended to eBay purchases made by buyers in 190 countries including items shipped to unconfirmed addresses. See eligibility.

(3) Grab more buyers: 2 proven ways to boost holiday sales
This year more than ever, holiday shoppers want a deal. Two big ways to grab their attention and make the sale:
1) Entice buyers into action with Best Offer listings. Buyers can make you an offer. You can set your listings to auto-reject low-ball offers and auto-accept those above the price you want. Adding Best Offer to your listings is free.
2) Highlight savings by applying Markdown Manager to your listings. Strike-through pricing emphasizes savings and value to move your inventory fast. Markdown Manager is free with your Stores subscription.

(4) Make Best Match work for you
Best Match helps shoppers find just what they're looking for from sellers they trust. Bottom line, delivering great value and service to your buyers is key to getting a top position in Best Match search results.

Remember, Auction-style and Fixed Price listings are now sorted differently and then intermingled to give buyers a good mix of both. Auction-style gets a boost when the listing's about to end (time ending soonest). Fixed Price gets a boost based on recent sales--the more items that sell in a listing, the better position it can get in search results.

Number one tip to build recent sales: combine multiple identical items into one 30-day Fixed Price listing. See the top six ways to improve the position of your Fixed Price and Auction-style listings.

(5) Your listing "Featured First"
Give your Auction-style and Fixed Price listings a chance to appear in the featured spot at the top of the first page of search results with the new Featured First listing upgrade. It's an especially good way to jump start recent sales for new Fixed Price listings.



(6) Stand out on new product pages
We've made shopping for many hot holiday items faster and easier with new product pages--one for books, movies, music and video games and one for other categories such as cell phones and digital cameras. To make sure interested buyers find your items on these new pages, just list with pre-filled item information.

(7) 5 cent fees and a free subtitle
From now until the end of the year, when you list books, music, movies and video games in Fixed Price with pre-filled item information, Insertion Fees are just 5¢. And, when you list with pre-filled item information in either Fixed Price or Auction-style, you get a free subtitle--even if you don't offer free shipping.

(8) Turn negative Feedback into positive
Great news for sellers: now you can submit a request for a buyer to change a Feedback rating, Feedback comment, or detailed seller ratings when negative Feedback is left in error or when you've been able to resolve an issue with your buyer.

(9) More tips to get high shipping DSRs
Good communication goes a long way to get high shipping DSRs from happy holiday shoppers. Here are a few more proven strategies:

Clearly state shipping costs, service and handling time in
your listing.
Notify buyers when you receive payment, and inform them of
any delays such as waiting for their payments to clear.
Ship within 24 hours of receiving payment.
Stock up on packaging supplies before the holiday season.
Order free U.S. Postal Service shipping supplies.
Pack properly, and make sure the box can handle the item's
weight. Use recycled packaging that's in good condition.
Package fragile items well.
Include colored packing slip. It's a great opportunity to recap
your return policy, show your appreciation for their business
and encourage buyers to leave positive feedback.
Resolve any problems quickly and professionally.

Get more tips for getting top DSRs.

(10) Get exact shipping costs in no time The eBay Shipping Calculator is a great way to accurately calculate shipping costs. When using the calculator, it is important to specify the right package size. The size and weight of the package will determine the shipping cost, so have an idea of what packaging you're going to use before you list. It'll often speed up your fulfillment once you make the sale.

BONUS: Need more time to update your listings? You got it! To help you focus squarely on holiday selling, we're holding off on requiring a return policy and handling time until early 2009. And we'll give you at least 30 days notice before the requirement takes effect. Note, including a return policy and handling time is still a best practice so we encourage you to start listing with both now. Check the seller checklist to stay on top of the latest timelines and best practices. Take advantage of eBay's bulk editing tools to make all your required updates at once.

All Tips are thanks of Ebay.com